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Joan Rosemary Burns Farmery, age 71, went to be with the Lord on Oct. 31, 2018, from her home in Desert Hot Springs, California, after a long battle with cancer. She was born in Quebec City on April 27, 1947 to John and Mildred Shannon Burns.

How could an evening filled with live performances of singing, piano, dancing and poetry delivered by some of Quebec City’s most talented artists be even more exciting? Having that evening focused solely on Canadian composers, artists, poets and painters, and while you’re at it, hosted in a beautiful venue.

The Université Laval Rouge et Or football team started its defence of the regional and national titles on Nov. 3 with a decisive 40-0 win over the Vert et Or of Université de Sherbrooke. Playing in front of fewer than 7,000 cold and wet football fans at Stade Telus, Laval took an 8-0 lead after the first quarter.

The thrill of victory … and the agony of defeat.

The St. Patrick’s High School Fighting Irish junior football team put their unbeaten record on the line in the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) regional championship on Nov. 3. Their opponents, the Laser from École des Sentiers in Charlesbourg, however, wanted to avenge their loss to the Irish earlier this season.

You could have heard a pin drop in the crowded auditorium of CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence on Oct. 24, as Eva Olsson, renowned author, Order of Ontario recipient and one of the few living Holocaust survivors, talked about her life as a young woman in war-torn Europe in the mid-1940s.

The thick wooden walls protected the ghosts and ghouls from the beautiful evening that lay just outside of La Chope Gobeline. The Voice of English-speaking Québec (VEQ) hosted another bilingual Hello! Bonjour! event on Oct. 25. This time it was a spooky story night at the medieval restaurant on Boulevard René-Lévesque.

Don’t forget to set your clocks BACK one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night, Nov. 3, or you’ll be an hour early for church (or whatever else you have on your schedule) on Sunday morning – which is not quite as bad as being an hour late when we “spring forward” again in March 2019.

Remembrance Day is upon us, and this year marks a notable milestone in a commemoration noted for its milestones.
Nov. 11, 2018, will be the centennial of the Armistice, the pact that ended the First World War. (In reality and retrospect, the cessation of fighting in 1918 was simply a 20-year truce before a second, even more widespread, bloody and catastrophic conflict.)

Streetcar is rolling: Holland School’s gymnasium would never be mistaken for the sweltering streets of New Orleans, but that’s where rehearsals are underway for a production set in the Big Easy: Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire.

On the last Saturday of October, a long line of people waited outside Église St-Charles-Garnier in Sillery for Saint Brigid’s Guild’s semi-annual clothing sale. Twice a year, an anonymous benefactor donates over 1,500 bags of clothes, accessories, linen and jewelry.

Identical twins have fascinated people for ages. Then there are other people with no connection who are so similar that they could be twins. There is something unsettling, yet enthralling, about them. This is the subject of the Musée de la Civilisation’s latest exhibit Mon sosie a 2000 ans / My 2,000-year-old Double, on display until May 12, 2019.

Pet lovers found what they were looking for at the Salon National des Animaux de Compagnie (SNAC), held Oct. 20 and 21 at the Centre de Foires de Québec. Dogs, cats, pet pigs, alpacas, rodents and many other animals were on site, with breeders who were ready and eager to answer questions.

Twenty-one articulate and creative writers crowded College Hall at the Morrin Centre on Nov. 10 for award-winning author Monique Polak’s bilingual writers’ workshop, The Bilingual Mind / L’esprit bilingue. A wide array of linguistic backgrounds was represented – French and English, of course, but speakers of Spanish, Farsi and sign language were also present.

The 33rd Salon des Mariés de Québec was held at the the Centre de Foires de Québec on Oct. 20 and 21.

Once a couple is ready to tie the knot, what comes next? Is there a guest list for the big day? How many people will be invited? What is the budget? How can couples get help with planning, so the big day is what they always dreamed it would be?

Review

How does one review the Northern Lights? Something so beautiful, pure and otherworldly can only be compared to itself; hence the Toronto-based ensemble Minor Empire can only be compared to, well, Minor Empire.

The Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec presents its heartfelt condolences to the families affected by the tragic death of their loved ones and presents its thoughts of compassion to the people wounded in the tragedy that was experienced yesterday (Oct. 27) at the synagogue of Pittsburgh.

In Flanders Fields” is a poem written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lt.-Col. John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lt. Alexis Hemler, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres.

Wednesday, Oct. 31 from 3 to 6 p.m. – Celebrate Halloween on Rue Saint-Jean. Youngsters are invited to go trick-or-treating in stores in the area which have the pumpkin sticker in their window. Free face painting will also be offered in the Passage Olympia.

When my son was young, he would ask me, “What’s for supper?” I would often answer, “Elephants’ ears, spiders’ legs, snakes’ tails and bats’ wings lightly simmered in a red sauce.” He would lick his lips and find this very funny.

St. Patrick’s High School’s Fighting Irish junior football team is continuing its perfect season. Unbeaten in six regular season games, St. Pat’s qualified for the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) Québec-Chaudière-Appalaches final with an impressive 34-0 win over the Centaures from École La Courvilloise of Beauport, on Oct. 27.

The Université Laval women’s rugby team’s season came to an end when they allowed two quick tries in the final minutes of the first half to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Oct. 26. They could not recover from the deficit and lost the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) final by a score of 40-19.

Those passing by Place George-V on Oct. 19 took a moment to watch a short military commemorative ceremony. The Royal 22e Régiment marked two important milestones during the ceremony: the 104th anniversary of the founding of the regiment and the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice which ended the First World War.

On Oct. 20, Quebecers woke up to a rainy, windy morning, not ideal weather for a walk. That didn’t stop over 150,000 people of all ages and abilities from taking to the streets of 75 cities and towns across the province for the 10th annual Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie.